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Kalkandu(/Rock Sugar/Misri) Vadai

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi called Vinayagar Chathurthi in the south to all my blogger friends. This dish is a prasadh for this festival. Can be made one among the many we make.

Kalkandu is called Rock Sugar in English and Misri in Hindi. It is nothing but a sweet vada made with urad dal and Kalkandu/Misri/Rock Crystal. It is one of the delicacies of chettinad cuisine. They make these as a sweet for any festivals or can be made when guests come.

This vadai brings back lot of fond memories of my childhood days. My Grandmother (mom’s mom) used to make this whenever we visit her for holidays in the village. It’s my favourite. I have a sweet tooth. I like this and other chettinad preparations that’s sweet, like Adi kool, Kandarppam, Mothagam, Kavanarusi, …… All these maynot sound familiar to all. But will sure post each and every prepartion here

A square polythene sheet – cut from thick plastic bags into the shape of your palm.

METHOD

Take the Urad Dal/Ulutham Paruppu and Raw Rice in a vessel and wash them twice.

Soak it in cold water for atleast one hour.

Powder the Kalkandu/Rock Sugar/Misri and set aside.

Drain the soaked Urad dal and raw rice mixture without any water in it.

Spread it in a clean kitchen towel for sometime to remove all the excess water.

Now add the soaked urad dal/ulunthu and raw rice mixture into the running grinder.

Grind it to a near smooth batter without adding any water.

Now add the powdered Kalkandu/Misri/Rock Sugar in the grinder little by little.

Grind it until smooth. Add a pinch of salt to it.

Time to transfer the batter to a vessel.

After that pour a glass of water to the grinder and wash it. Take the water in a small bowl.

Heat enough oil in a kadai for deep frying the vada’s.

Cut a plastic bag into a square shape that is of the size of your palm.

Rub the sheet with the water.

Now dip your right hand in the water and take a small ball of batter in your hand.

Place the sheet in your left hand palm. Put the ball of batter on the sheet and flatten it into the shape of a round vada.

Again dip your forefinger into the water and make a hole in the center.

Wet your right hand again and transfer the flattened vada and drop it into the hot oil.

Drop three or four vada’s one after the other and flip over them to cook evenly.

Remove them from oil when golden brown.

Repeat until the batter gets over.

Kalkandu Vadai/Vada is ready to be served to God. Enjoy making and having these yummy goodies.

Note : Use whole urad dal for making these vadai.

Drain the water completely from the soaked Urad Dal and Rice mixture. Spread it in a kitchen towel to drain them completely.

While grinding the batter don’t add water as the batter will become watery after adding the powder kalkandu.

The purpose of touching the water makes it non sticky to the hand or the sheet. You can just use the plain water instead of using the washed water.

Can add sugar instead of Kalkandu/Rock Sugar/Misri.

Powdering the Kalkandu/Rock Sugar/Misri before adding into the grinder is very important as they may spoil your grinder or the blender.

The Vada’s tend to become black as the sugar caramelizes in it. Better fry them in medium flame instead of high flame, to avoid overly burnt vada’s.

They tend to take more oil. So don’t panic just allow it to drain in the kitchen towel for more time.

These vada’s taste great the next day than instantly.

Visual clicks

Take all your ingredients.Take urad dal/ulunthu and raw rice/pacharusi.Soak it for atleast one hour.Drain the soaked dal and rice. Let it sit for sometime. Allow the water to drain.Pound the kalkandu as small as possible.Grind the dal and rice together without adding any water.Grind until the batter becomes almost smooth.Add the crushed Kalkandu/Rock Sugar/Misri little by little.Add a pinch of salt to the grinding mixture.Wash the grinder with a cup of water and remove the water to a small bowl – WaterCut a plastic sheet in the shape of a square, that fits the palm of your left hand. Hold the sheet on the palm of the left hand and apply the Water on it.Take a small amount of the batter and shape it into a vada on the plastic sheet by dipping your hand everytime in the Water.Drop the vada’s one by one in the oil and fry them in medium flame.Drain the vada’s in the kitchen towel.Fry all the vada’s and serve them to God and enjoy.